Over the last four months I have been experimenting extensively with various hop up modifications. From the flat hop to the R-Hop and a little bit of everything in between. My personal quest for the ultimate in accuracy has lead me to believe the R-Hop generally offers the most optimal performance / cost ratio for most setups. There are several truly specialized hop up modifications that perhaps gain the slight edge, but they are held back by their maintenance heavy requirements and difficulty of install – especially doing it properly the first time, and often the first time is the only time you have as they are rather permanent modifications.
With the proper tools at hand, an R-Hop can be generally fitted and installed in under 15 minutes. With the Z-Kit, it can be done even faster. That being said, an R-Hop isn’t always the best choice for a particular end-user. As a do-it-yourself type, you may not find it particularly easy or patience-inspiring to install one. Furthermore, they can be expensive depending on where you source your contact patches from. I’ve also noted they require a bit more tuning to reach the “sweet spot” as opposed to a traditional hop up bucking and nub assembly. Certain barrels do not accept R-Hops very well. With some that feature very small hop up chamber windows, you may find the R-Hop contact patch has to be profiled to the point where it is too weak – consequently leaving your hop up turned “on” can temporarily or permanently deform the contact patch and/or dislodge it causing untold accuracy issues. Lastly, I bring up the issue of tools. Without the right tools, the job becomes all the more harder to accomplish. You can certainly fudge your way through it with some rudimentary tools, but good tools are obviously worth their weight in gold.
So for individuals who may not have the time, tools, money or patience to perform an R-Hop installation, yet still want more ‘oomph’ over a stock hop up bucking, what might they consider?
The Hybrid Hop Up
I consider the definition of a hybrid hop up a cross between a traditional hop up and the specialized hop ups. It can borrow features from either, and is generally a good ‘compromise’ in that it will typically gain you better performance than a traditional hop up yet not be as intensive an install or maintenance inducing as a specialized one. Most of the time, hybrid hop ups are a mash-up of custom hand fitting and commercially available pieces. A good example of a full fledged commercially produced hybrid hop up might be the RTX Maple Leaf.
One such method I have been experimenting with is the pairing of an M-Nub with a standard hop up bucking. As noted in our Z-Kit review, the M-Nub requires minor modification to the hop up arm assembly to make it work. About the only tools required is a means of accessing your hop up chamber, a razor blade, and a good file. Installation can be accomplished in 5 minutes or less. In quick summary, all that is needed is to size it to fit your hop up window, create a flat surface on your hop up arm, and affix the M-Nub. It’s that easy.
As for which hop up bucking one should use – that depends mostly on personal preference. I would note that it seems to perform best with anything less than 70 degrees hardness, though. The harder buckings do not lend themselves very well for conformation around the BB like the softer ones do. As the M-Nub is made from fairly soft and pliable material, so too should your bucking choice be. My personal preference is for the M-Nub and Prometheus Purple combination. Real Sword and Guarder Clear buckings work very well too. KWA buckings, of course, blow chunks.
Performance wise I’ve found that this combination is especially well suited for enhancing short-barreled AEG’s – though I have used it on up to 450mm length barrels. Coupled with standard barrel lockdown techniques, my 208mm 6.03 TBB (8.1″ for the metric-adverse) with the above hop up combination has encountered little trouble slinging plastic against AEG’s sporting longer barrels. In fact, it has often out-ranged them, as noted by a few observers during the last airsoft OP: “Damn that thing has some serious throw!”